Janice Meredith eBook

“’T is not a subject I choose to discuss
with you, nor is it one for any gentlewoman,”
said Janice, dropping her hold on the candle and starting
upstairs. At the top she paused long enough to
say, “Nor do I trust your version,” and
then hurried to her room and bolted the door.

Here, dark as it was, she went straight to the bureau,
and pulling open the bottom drawer fumbled about in
it. Her hands presently encountered the unfinished
purse, and for a moment they closed on it, while something
resembling a sob escaped her. But with one hand
she continued searching; and so soon as her groping
put her fingers on the miniature of Mrs. Loring she
rose, and feeling the way to a window, she opened
it and threw out the slip of ivory. The girl made
a motion as if to send the purse after it, but checked
the impulse, and forgetting to close the window, and
without a thought of her once treasured gown, she
threw herself on the bed, and began to sob miserably.
Before many minutes, worn out with excitement, fatigue,
and the lateness, she fell asleep, but it was only
to dream uneasily over the night’s doings, in
which all was a confused jumble, save for the eager
tones of her lover’s voice as he pleaded his
suit, the sight of him as he lay on the floor after
the candles had been lighted, and, finally, the look
in his eyes as he made his farewell. Yet no sooner
did these recur than they were succeeded by that of
Mrs. Loring’s eager and passionate kissing of
Brereton, and each time this served to bring Janice
back into a half-awake condition.

After breakfast the next morning, as she was pretendedly
reading Racine’s “Iphigenie,” lest
her mother should find her doing nothing and order
her to some task, a letter was handed her by one of
the servants, with word that it had been brought by
a soldier; and breaking the seal, Janice read:

My deer child pleas do forgiv al i spoke to yu a
bout the furst time i see yu for i did not understan
it at al i was dredful up set bi last nite and feel
mitey pukish this mawning, but i hope yu will cum to
see me soon for i want much to tawk with yu a bout
how i can help yu and to kiss and hugg yu for yu ar
so prity that i shud lov just to tuck yu lik sum one
else did yu see how his eys lovd yu when he was going
a way he yused to look that way at me and i cried
mitey hard al nite at his krulty pleas cum soon to
unhapy
Jane
Loring.
ps. i shal cum to yu if yu dont cum quick

“There is no answer,” the maiden told
the servant; then, as he went to the door she added,
“And should a Mrs. Loring wish to see me, you
will refuse me to her.”

Left alone, Janice went to the fireplace, in which
the advance of spring no longer made a fire necessary,
and, taking from its niche the tinder box, she struck
flint on steel, and in a moment had a blaze started.
Not waiting to let it gain headway, she laid the letter
upon the flame, and held it there with the tongs till
it ignited. “I knew without your telling
me,” she said, “that he no longer loved
you, and great wonder it is, considering your age,
that he ever could.”